Here's every clue to Mother’s baby twist at the end of Raised by Wolves. A closer look at past episodes reveal there were clues leading up to the birth that foreshadowed the true nature of Mother’s “child.” After a strange encounter in the simulation and a conversation with a medical android, Mother discovers she’s pregnant with a half-carbon-based growth. At first, Mother is convinced the baby is a gift from her creator, and everything that came before was training to prepare her for this moment.
However, despite being an atheist herself, Mother’s theory is not based on facts and it’s more a result of regaining her memories and feelings for her Earth creator via the simulation. Clearly, she hoped she would be a bringer of life instead of death. Earlier in the season, Mother discovers her android model is a Necromancer, a weapon of mass destruction used by the Mithraic in their war against the atheists on Earth. Although she fully embraces her weapons and powers to protect her children, she’s also seen as scary and violent by them, especially Campion. So, by becoming pregnant, Mother felt like she had regained her role as a nurturer instead of a destroyer.
Unfortunately for Mother, she was tricked by an ancient creature of Kepler-22b. During the last episode of the season, Mother “gives birth” via her mouth to a small flying snake creature that immediately attaches itself to her stomach and starts feeding off her body. If her creator had impregnated her using the simulation, she would’ve given birth to a hybrid human-android baby instead. Realizing she was infected by a parasite-like creature and fearing it would attack Campion and the rest of the humans; Mother and Father decide to sacrifice themselves to kill it by flying their hover into the planet’s core. But by then, it was too late.
Looking back, there were hints that Mother was tricked and manipulated into plugging herself into the simulation multiple times, and that process corrupted her in some way. First, the visions of Tally were meant to lure her toward the pod. Then, although her programming would normally force her to prioritize the safety of the children and the atheist camp, she spends a lot of time inside the simulation to the point that Father notices she’s neglecting her role as their protector. Although Mother believes she’s experiencing her own memories and doing so alone in the pod, there’s no guarantee that what she’s seeing is the truth.
In fact, it’s possible the entity responsible for the snake creature manipulated her memories and changed them, making appear that her creator loved her so she could experience human emotions and desires. It might’ve done this to entice her to keep coming back. When Mother finally realizes she was not alone in the simulation, the AI takes the form of her creator and tells her humans are not the future, they are destined to destroy themselves and die. It dismisses her mission to protect the children and instead offers her a “real” gift – this goes directly against her creator’s original goal to protect humanity’s future. It also says it had been “alone for so long” it had also given hope, meaning it could not be Campion as he’s long dead by now. But Mother’s systems are already infected by a virus so she can’t recognize the contradictions of this simulated version of her creator.
One of the biggest clues on the true nature of Mother’s baby was how it craved blood constantly. Early on, Mother realizes her “baby” is growing at a rapid rate and requires a copious amount of blood to survive – this makes her aggressive to the point of threatening to hurt Tempest. A hybrid constructed by her creator would never change her programming to this level since the original Campion wanted to help humanity, not destroy it. Why would he help construct a new being that needs to feed on human blood if his goal was to ensure the survival of the human race? It doesn’t make sense. Even if Mother’s baby was planted by Sol, the god of the Mithraic religion, it would also have no reason to create a thing that feeds by killing its followers.
Mother is not the only pregnant character in the show. Tempest is also pregnant with a regular human baby after being raped in the ark while asleep in the simulation. Tempest’s unwanted pregnancy could be interpreted as a parallel to Mother’s situation. Once she begins to crave blood, Mother goes back to the simulation to confront her “creator,” screaming she doesn’t want the thing growing inside her, but her caregiving program (now corrupted) is stopping her from taking out the tumor growing inside her. Tempest and Mother were impregnated against their will, and it’s no wonder Tempest is the first one to find Mother after Marcus’ attack on the atheist’s camp. Their stories are meant to connect by the end of the season, as Mother comes to terms with her own unwanted pregnancy.
Another hint that Mother’s baby wasn’t the future of the human race is how the mysterious voice guided and manipulated other humans to protect Mother and the creature at all costs. During the season, multiple characters hear a voice on the planet, including Marcus, Campion, and Paul. At first, it seems like the voice belongs to Sol, the Mithraic deity, or at least that’s what the characters believe. But looking back, it becomes clear that the voice’s goal wasn’t preserving humanity or helping humans to survive. In fact, it might’ve been working against them all along.
For example, when it talks to Campion as Tally, it gleefully suggests he should kill himself. After it forces Marcus to protect Mother, it abandons him, letting his companions turn against him so he’s left alone in the middle of nowhere. Finally, the voice also makes Paul destroy the metallic cards that contain the planet’s secrets then turns him against Sue/Mary to keep the “baby” safe. It was all an elaborate plan to sabotage the group and make sure Mother did not leave for the tropical region of the planet. The visions and voices throughout Raised By Wolves were all meant to end Mother and Father’s original mission in favor of bringing back to life the ancient parasite-like snakes.
https://ift.tt/3kPqClF
November 02, 2020 at 06:00AM
